


A Gravitation of Antipodes

by sixfarthingsless



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dentistry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 04:27:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixfarthingsless/pseuds/sixfarthingsless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Arthur is the work experience boy, Merlin is the receptionist at Pendragon Health and Will is a really judgmental cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gravitation of Antipodes

**Author's Note:**

> So, a friend asked for a dentist!AU and I thought I'd write this for her. Not sure if it's entirely what she wanted (she asked for crack, but I'm not funny enough to pull it off) but she says she likes it, so, I thought I'd post it for all!

Dedicated to [Ana](http://ilovetextingandscones.tumblr.com/) 

 

***

 

After a weekend of heavy drinking, spiked birthday cake and shameless flirting with the new bartender at The Rising Sun, Merlin finally dragged himself out of bed at six am on Monday. He longed to pull out the plug on his alarm, get back into bed and snuggle into his sheets, but his boss would slaughter him if it happened a second time. 

Doctor Pendragon had, indeed, got less strict since he married Vivian, but he still didn’t excuse days off because somebody ‘needed their beauty sleep’. He forced himself to his wardrobe, hauling out his uniform and, with all the energy he could muster, pulled it on. 

 

His demon cat, Will, whom he’d taken in after feeding once (as the dastard thing refused to leave), tripped him as he left the bedroom and he barked his shin on the railing - he would have to hobble his way around work that day, which, no doubt, would earn raised eyebrows from the other receptionists.

 

His ankle throbbed as he trudged down the stairs, swearing at Will, who darted between his legs, meowing in a way that Merlin had grown to understand meant ‘ _feed me now, you peasant_ ’. 

 

Merlin preferred that to Will’s ‘ _stroke me now or I shall claw out your eyeball_ ’ meow that was usually heard.

The cat jumped onto the side as Merlin opened the cupboard. As Merlin reached in, Will pawed at his side. 

“Ow, you little bastard. Get down, go on, get down!” Merlin nudged Will, who fell, in Merlin’s eyes, gracefully to the floor then ran to his bowl. Merlin poured in some biscuits, shaking his head as Will practically threw himself into the bowl before Merlin was finished. 

He put the biscuits on the side and made himself some breakfast, which Will finished off while Merlin got himself a glass of orange juice. 

That little bastard. 

 

***

 

Merlin got into work ten minutes before Sefa and Freya, the other receptionists, and switched on the computers and telephones. He boiled the kettle to make coffee and tea when the dentists, and receptionists, got in because he knew as well as anyone that the employees at Pendragon Health loved their caffeine. 

 

Even though it wasn’t his job, he straightened the seats in the waiting area, and set out toys for the kids who were due in. 

  
The door opened and in walked the head Dentist, shivering. He blew heat into his hands, rubbing them together, in hopes of warmth.

 

“Good morning, Merlin,” Doctor Pendragon said. 

“Morning, Doctor Pendragon,” Merlin offered to take his coat. Pendragon shrugged it off quickly and unwound his scarf. 

“How many times, Merlin, call me Uther. I’d consider us friends, you’ve worked with me long enough,” He grinned.

Merlin thought Uther looked a little like a lion ready to pounce on his prey when he smiled, but he chided himself for thinking it. “Oh, while I see you, I need you to keep between ten and eleven open. My son, Arthur, is coming in as part of a work experience thing and I need time to brief him,” 

Merlin hadn’t realised Doctor Pendragon had any kids; he’d never seen any pictures, unlike the other Doctors at the surgery. 

“Alright, I’ll put a note on the system,” Merlin uttered, putting the coat on the hangers. He poured Uther a coffee and popped it onto the workbench. 

Uther took it, giving a warm smile and sighed in appreciation after his first sip. 

“Oh, and Merlin, would it be dreadfully inconvenient if he worked with you today? You know, show him the ropes, teach him the tricks of the trade?”  
No. Absolutely not. Merlin didn’t want some _snotty_ nosed fourteen year old getting his dirty paws all over Merlin’s work. Never in a million years. 

Merlin hated kids of schooling age; they were awful little things with superiority complexes, big, loud mouths and stupid baggy trousers that looked like 80’s throwbacks. 

  
“Sure thing, Doctor Pendragon,” Merlin beamed, his mind screaming _what the fuck, Merlin?_! repeatedly. 

 

***

 

 Merlin limped towards the fax machine as it whirred into life. They rarely received faxes; usually somebody sent an email which he’d then have to print, which would cost a fortune in ink because it was never one page, it was an 80,000 word essay on the benefits of natural penicillin’s compared to amino-penicillin’s when it comes to abscesses in the teeth.

Vivian Marshal, Uther’s wife, worked as a dentist at the other end of the city and frequently had her suppliers send Pendragon Health trials and information packs and god knows what that Pendragon Health did not need. 

Merlin pulled the paper from the fax machine and read a couple of lines to double check somebody hadn’t sent spam.

Spam was almost as bad as school aged children, in Merlin’s opinion. He thought of Uther’s son and wondered what he’d be like.

Would he be like his cousin, Mordred, who stayed in his room all day eating pizza, and hissed at sunlight? Or would he be like Sefa’s younger sister, Sophia, who loved to sleep with anything that moved faster than a sloth? He could be like his neighbour’s son, Myror, and beat up kids for a living, or Valiant - who calls their kid Valiant? - and make people’s lives hell if they think differently to himself. 

He hated kids. Vindictive, dictating little blighters who needed a good kick up the backside. 

He supposed he was the same when he was kid, but he’d grown out of that phase. 

“Merlin, I need you to take these to room 12, Doctor Mandeep needs them before the hours up,” Freya pushed a box towards Merlin and, with a frustrated sigh, she pushed her hair out of her face. She was only four years older than Merlin but grey was beginning to appear around her hairline and crows feet were forming around her eyes.

  
She wiped her face with her hands and began to staple piles of paper, her hands shaking; Merlin made a mental note to ask her about it later. 

 

***

 

At ten, the door opened and a group of pensioners fought their way through the door. Coughing, sneezing, clutching arms and faces, they stood in an orderly queue, each talking about last night’s soap cliff hanger. 

  
“Did you see, Deidre? Kenneth left his pants in Mary’s bedroom!” A woman a few people in exclaimed, laughing. 

Merlin smiled as politely as he could as he checked them in, telling them to sit in the waiting area as he typed their names into the system. He watched as they all in turn doddered into the waiting area, their sandals slapping onto the tiled floor. 

The door screeched as someone pulled it the wrong way and Merlin lifted his head to see the bartender from Friday and Saturday swaggering past him and going straight upstairs. His head felt all hot and his tongue slightly too big for his mouth as he watched the long, toned legs step up. His mind throbbed and heat rushed all over his body as the bartender turned to look at him, shooting him a smirk of recognition. 

“Excuse me? Excuse me, you can’t just-” Freya began. 

“I have an appointment. Room 9, Doctor Pendragon, between 10 and 11, now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to keep my father waiting,” The bartender smiled, a little sadistically and a little forced. He raised his eyebrow as if prepared to be challenged, but when no one picked up the gauntlet, he carried on his merry way to Uther’s office, leaving a gawping Freya and an extremely uncomfortable Merlin. 

“O-okay,” Freya stammered, looking from the stairs to Merlin. He hoped she couldn’t notice the blush that was creeping up his chest and neck, and was beginning to kiss its way across his cheeks. If she did, she didn’t say anything, but Merlin definitely noticed Freya’s.

When Sefa came out of the back cupboard a few minutes later carrying their coffees, she stopped dead in her tracks and recoiled slightly. 

“Bleeding hell, what happened to you two?”

 

***

 

 Uther and the bartender made their way down the stairs at ten to eleven, laughing at something that was so hilarious Uther had tears. The bartender beamed widely, looking around and locking eyes with Merlin. 

Merlin felt his stomach twist and looked away, fumbling with papers at his desk, his breath hitching. He was aware that Uther and the bartender were getting increasingly closer but he was desperate to avoid either of them.

He should have said no. He should have said he was too busy doing busy things and being busy to show Uther’s extremely good looking son around. 

But he didn’t.  
And now; now he was pretending to straighten pieces of blank paper to avoid eye contact. 

“Merlin?” Doctor Pendragon questioned. Merlin lifted his eyes slowly to find the two staring at him in matching poses, arms folded and the famous interrogative eyebrow. Merlin grinned sheepishly. “Merlin, this is my son, Arthur. Arthur, this is Merlin Emrys. He’ll be showing you around for the next few days and you’re to do anything he tells you, no questions asked,” 

“Anything?” Arthur asked and Merlin sensed the innuendo.  
His brain thrummed with arousal that trailed through his body, lighting his every nerve ending on fire. 

“Within reason, of course,” Uther simpered, glancing between the pair with knowing eyes. “If Merlin asks you to run to the other end of town to get the best coffee, be sure you do it, Arthur. If he asks you to dance the rumba wearing a skirt because it will make him concentrate, you do it. And if he asks you to shut up; suck up your pride and do it.  
Are we clear?” 

“Crystal,” Arthur nodded. 

“Good,” His father smiled. He glanced down to his notes and then back up at the waiting area. “Ian Hammond? Right this way,” He began to walk towards the stairs, with a satisfied grin on his face. “It’s a root canal problem, is it not?” Ian Hammond nodded, and began to discuss the issue as they walked. 

Once Uther had gone, Arthur walked around to Merlin’s side and sat in Sefa’s empty seat, swinging his legs like an impatient child. 

Merlin tapped away at his computer, filling in information that didn’t have to be in for weeks as a ploy to not talk to Arthur. His mind, and, if he was honest, dick, couldn’t cope with a conversation right then. 

“I’d look awful in a skirt, by the way. I just don’t have the legs for it,” Arthur admitted to fill the silence, sounding genuinely saddened by this fact. “You on the other hand,” He winked, sniggering as Merlin coughed and spluttered, choking on his coffee. 

 

***

 

“Alright, so, red in the blue box, blue in the yellow box and pink in the white box, don’t ask why, I don’t know,” Merlin stated, handing over three cardboard boxes of folders with client information. Box was, in essence, a loose term, as they were makeshift drawers. “Red is for the dentist side, blue is for the doctor’s side and pink is for anything else, if you have a problem, I’ll be through there,” He tapped a box with his foot then made to leave.  

“Hey, Merlin?” Arthur asked, pausing Merlin in his step by touching his arm. 

“What, Arthur?” He sighed. He didn’t want to be in the same area as Arthur; Arthur was the bartender he’d spent the weekend flirting with.  
Arthur was the same person who made his trousers a little tighter just at the thought of him.  
And now he was far too close for comfort. 

Arthur withdrew his hand and clutched it to his side. 

“I was just-- If you’re not-- thanks,” He stuttered, flushing a shade of crimson and turning around to get on with the task. 

No problem, Merlin thought, getting out of there as soon as he could.

 

***

 

Arthur clocked out forty minutes early, by the request of Uther, and the two left to go catch up over coffee and, Merlin later found out, bagels at the bistro on the corner. As soon as the door to Pendragon Health closed, Merlin breathed a sigh a relief. 

“Merlin, are you okay?” Sefa buzzed, lifting a perfectly plucked eyebrow. Merlin shook his head as he mumbled into his hands about The Lord, Allah and Buddah testing him.  
“Whatever it is,” She said, waving a hand to silence him, “There’s only four more days until the weekend. We can go get drinks at The Rising Sun and gawp at the new bartender,” 

Merlin groaned and smacked his head on the table in an attempt to shut her up. 

 

***

 

Will pounced on Merlin as soon as he walked through the door. Patience was something that Will had never mastered, but, as he was a cat, Merlin didn’t expect it of him. 

 

“Alright, you blasted thing, I’ll feed you in a minute, Jesus Christ,” He grumbled, slamming the door. He threw his bag onto the floor and flumped onto the settee, letting out a satisfied groan. Will jumped onto his chest and sat, proud, licking his lips and swishing his tail from side to side.  
“I said I’d feed you in a minute, _ger’off_!”

  
Will refused to move, meowing in his hungry way until Merlin was forced to get up and put down more biscuits. Why couldn’t cats just feed themselves? 

  
***

 

“So, Merlin, I was thinking,” Arthur stated the next day over their lunch break. So far, they’d done a fantastic job of avoiding each other, but Arthur had just ruined their streak. 

“Careful, that’s dangerous,” Merlin remarked with a cocky smirk.  
Arthur scowled - one nil to Merlin. 

“Anyway, as I was saying. I was thinking that you and I should go out this Friday. I was thinking about seven, maybe eightish, I’ll pick you up and we’ll go wherever you want,” 

Merlin froze. 

“I don’t think that’s a good-” He began.

“Oh come on, Merlin, humour me. We’ll go wherever you want and I’ll pay,”  
 

“I’d love to but, no, see the thing is, I have plans with Sefa,” 

“Ah, yes, ogling the bar staff at The Rising Sun,” Arthur leaned back in his seat, watching Merlin as he tensed. “Sefa invited me. Says there’s a new bartender, hot as anything. Not seen him, myself, can’t comment. What about you? What do you think?” Arthur folded his arms, raising an eyebrow and smirking. _Gotcha_ was all Merlin saw in his stance. 

  
“I’ve no idea what you mean,” Merlin stammered. 

“No, I don’t suppose you do,” Arthur smiled, taking a bite out of his sandwich. He smiled in a way that was really saying _what a terrific save, so believable,_ Mer _lin_. “So, what do you say? You, me, Friday night?”

“Wherever I want?” 

“Wherever you want,” Arthur repeated, an earnest look on his face. Merlin wondered if he should make Arthur work for it, as it seemed Arthur loved to make Merlin sweat. With a  sigh, he gave in. 

“Alright, okay, fine, but only because you’re paying!” 

***

 

By Thursday, Merlin was itching with both excitement and nerves.  
It had been years since he’d been on a date and months since he’d been out with friends. Hen nights for neighbours he’d spoken to only once and birthday parties for neighbour’s with pitying eyes didn’t count, really, but to Merlin they did.  
It wasn’t that Merlin didn’t have any friends, on the contrary, he had lots, but most of them were acquaintances whom he’d tried to be friends with but he’d found himself bored of their company. He’d not found anybody he really wanted to be around since his first year at uni, which was almost nine years ago. 

But this was one of the reasons for his nerves, too. Why was he so drawn to Arthur? Would Arthur grow bored of Merlin the same way Merlin had the others? Arthur was working with his father as an assistant that morning and Merlin hadn’t seen him - he could have changed his mind about the whole thing.

Merlin wasn’t really sure why Arthur was working at Pendragon Health. Did he even want to be a dentist? Why did he want to be a dentist? He looked like he could be a model! And that meant he was out of Merlin’s league. Oh, _Gods_.

“Alright, Merlin?” Freya asked in the photocopying room as Merlin paced. 

“What? Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Okay, then,” She drawled, tapping her fingers on the photocopier. “Can you do me 12 of these?”

“Double sided?” Merlin sighed heavily. 

“Yes. Oh, and Arthur’s looking for you. Says to meet him on the corner at lunch,” 

Merlin practically ran to the end of the street when his lunch break started.   

***

 

Will weaved in between Merlin’s legs as he gelled his hair in front of the mirror. He meowed loudly and scratched at Merlin’s leg. 

“Will, I swear to _God_ \--” He forced through his teeth. Will just meowed and ran away in hopes of finding more food in the bottom of his bowl, despite being fed as soon as Merlin came in from work. 

Merlin checked his watch; Arthur should have been here by now. They’d said half past seven and it was now quarter to. 

Merlin checked his watch again. Maybe he’d knocked it at work and it had thrown the time off. Yeah, that was it. 

Merlin sat on his sofa, half watching a rerun of Will and Grace while his mind ran through all the possibilities that could have lead to Arthur not showing. He was sick. That had to be it. Or he’d ran over a poor old lady and had to take her to A&E. He had. That was it. Definitely. 

Just as he resigned himself to watching Will and Grace reruns until 1am, where he would fall in front of the TV in his clothes, the doorbell rang and the cat ran through, meowing like it was for him. 

“Will, you don’t have any friends,” Merlin uttered, shaking his head as the cat scratched at the door.  
Will looked back at him with an expression Merlin took as _neither do you_. 

He took a deep breath and opened the door. 

Arthur stood, looking sheepish, hands behind his back; and he looked glorious. Neither spoke, just staring for a moment, watching each other, awkwardly.  
 

“Hi,” Arthur said, finally, shifting from one leg to the other. 

  
“Hi,” Merlin grinned, fiddling with the lock on the door. Will stuck a paw out, hissing, attempting to get to Arthur. “Do you, want to come in?” He opened the door all the way and Will ran out, circling Arthur like he was his next meal. 

“Sure. The car’s alright there, isn’t it?” He pointed to the path before Merlin’s house.  
Mrs Allen next door might complain at him in the morning for no other reason than having company, but Merlin couldn’t find it in him to care; Arthur was going to be in his house. In touching distance.  
He was-- Oh God, what if they had _sex_? 

He’d embarrass himself. He knew it. All Arthur would have to do was look at him in a way suggesting sex and he’d cum in his pants like a bloody thirteen year old. And he’d probably promise Arthur his hand in marriage if he _touched_ him.   
Gods, who thought this was a good idea?  
 

“Make yourself at home. You want anything to drink?” Merlin picked up the throw on the sofa and began straightening it out to give himself something to do. Arthur watched from the doorway, folding his arms and leaning against the wall, sensing Merlin’s nerves.   


“Cup of tea would be nice,” He remarked, following Merlin into the kitchen. 

  
***

 

Arthur sat on the edge of the sofa, listening to Merlin talking about his day as he skittered around the house, giving himself something to do. He thought it was slightly endearing that he could make Merlin react that way, although by this rate, they’d be going out and people would think Arthur was abusing him.  
He was acting _that_ flighty. 

“Merlin?” 

“Hm?” 

“Would you come here a sec?” He catechized.  
Merlin paused in his fidgety cleaning, where he wasn’t actually doing anything at all but pushing things around and about in a way that looked like cleaning, took and resigned sigh and stepped across the room. Arthur patted the space next to him with a small, smile, feeling as if Merlin was a wild animal that would scarper at sudden movements.  
 

He sat. 

“Just, turn to face me a moment, I think you’ve got something on your--” Merlin looked and Arthur took the moment to lean in and kiss him, hoping it would calm the nerves.  
It did.  
Within seconds, Merlin’s hands found their way around the back of Arthur’s neck and he leaned forward, knocking Arthur backwards.  
Awkwardly, he bussed Arthur’s jaw line as he leaned to straddle Arthur’s thighs. “Merlin-- are you sure you--” Arthur began, but he was silenced by a meaningful gaze. 

Oh, he was sure, alright, Arthur realised, this was exactly what he’d wanted. 

With a firm nod, they reattached their lips and Merlin began to unbutton Arthur’s shirt. Merlin pulled his own over his head, flinging it somewhere behind him and the cat let out an unappreciative growl as it landed on him.

“Stupid cat,” Merlin mumbled, shaking his head. Arthur sniggered, pulling Merlin in close and kissing him again. Arthur moaned as Merlin moved slightly, rubbing his crotch along Arthur’s. “Jesus, it’s just a kiss, calm down,” Merlin jeered, licking the shell of Arthur’s ear. Merlin kissed his way along Arthur’s jaw line to his neck, where he sucked, in hopes of causing a purple bruise as a sign of his conquest. 

“Merlin, I swear to God if you cause a bruise I’ll--” He croaked, just to receive Merlin’s chuckle. “I mean it, Merlin, I’ll--”

“You’ll what, Arthur?” Merlin whispered, pulling back to look at him straight in the eyes. “What would you do?” Merlin began to kiss his neck again, moving to his chest. “Tell me, Arthur, what will you do?” He asked as Arthur tipped his head back. 

But, Arthur’s reply was not to be heard as Will chose that moment to jump up on the settee and claim Arthur as a sleeping bag, hissing whenever the pair tried to move him.

“That bloody _cat_ ,” Merlin grumbled, sighing in defeat and rolling off with a grunt. 

  
***

 

Arthur and Merlin fell to sleep on the settee watching reruns of some washed up 90’s show while Will padded his claws into Arthur’s stomach.  
Merlin was sure his purrs was actually his laughter at his ability to cockblock. 

When Merlin woke, Arthur was stroking the top of Will’s head, who looked like he was smirking. That cat obviously lived to make Merlin’s life hell.  
 

“What time is it?” Merlin yawned, stretching out and purposefully knocking Will on the head. Arthur scrambled for the remote and pressed the select button. 8.17am. Gods, it was so _early_!  
Merlin adjusted to sitting on his legs, turning to face Arthur with his arms folded around him. “It’s so early,”

“Yeah,” Arthur nodded. He pulled himself up a little and looked towards Merlin with a rueful smile. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to go out last night,”

“Why are you apologising? It’s my cat,” Merlin laughed. “But, honestly, it’s fine,” 

“You sure?”

“Just means we’ll have to go out some other time,” Merlin paused, listening to the sound of Arthur breathing. Will shifted, digging his claws into Arthur’s leg, making him hiss.

“Are you doing anything this afternoon?” 

  
“No, I don’t believe I am,” 

Merlin shifted closer to him but stopped when Will raised his head. Stupid cockblocking cat. 

“Why?” Arthur asked as he stroked Will who wagged his tail slowly. 

“I was just thinking we could, I don’t know, do something,”

“Something. Sounds promising,” Arthur teased. He lifted his eyebrow, a cheeky smirk appearing. Merlin smacked his shoulder playfully, scowling. “Would this something be fun?” 

“Indeed it would,” 

“Would this something be beneficial for the both of us?”

“Indeed it would,” Merlin moved closer, hoping Will wouldn’t notice. 

  
“Alright then,”

“Alright,” And as if it was a morning ritual, Merlin kissed Arthur. When he pulled away, Arthur grinned widely, and Merlin thought he wouldn’t mind seeing that for the rest of his life. 

***

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, I know the endings a little abrupt, but I was leaving it open. Comments would be appreciated.


End file.
